I just received a newsletter from Night Shade Books (now an imprint of Start Publishing).
Happy reading!
Tag: Books
Writing Update
Okay, it’s time for me to get back into some blogging. Sorry for the absence but shit has been happening and I just haven’t felt in the mood to apply myself to anything more than a few snarky lines on Twitter. I have, however, been steadily working my way backwards through the Penny Royal books, picking up mistakes and making notes on some changes I need to make throughout the trilogy. Currently I’m working backwards through book III.
I’ve had an interesting discussion about these books with Bella at Tor. While those of you who have read my books will know who and what Penny Royal is, others might wonder if the three books are about a character from the Herb Garden and ‘a very friendly lion called Parsley’ might be involved. So, in this respect I need to think a bit more about the titles. As I wrote the books they were simply called Penny Royal I, II & III, they then transformed into the Penny Royal trilogywith the titles Isobel, Room 101 & Spear and Spine. I’m now thinking more in terms of the new reader walking into a shop and seeing them on the shelf. Perhaps the overall title of the trilogy should be The Dark AI or, perhaps even better and more accessible: The Dark Intelligence.
Here’s a picture just to break up the text. Nothing to do with what I’ve written here (it’s the Brass Man cover picture) but we don’t need much of a reason to look at Jon Sullivan’s work:
I’m still not sure about the titles of the individual books, however. The first one does mainly focus on the story of a character called Isobel Satomi, but is the title Isobel going to make someone pick up the book? Perhaps something more thematic like Transformations which are also integral to the book? Um, don’t know. This is still something I have to think on. Maybe the second book, to be more specific, I’ll call Factory Station Room 101. Anyway, it’s all going to require a bit more thought.
And now, on a final note: I must do some more video clips. So, if you have questions then please stick them in the comments below this post. You don’t necessarily have to stick to science fiction. And, if I don’t like your question, I’ll either ignore it or give a fatuous answer.
The Departure – Unused Cover Picture
Here’s something from the excellent Jon Sullivan, whose website is here:
Jupiter War in the USA
Jupiter War up on SF Signal. Something of a mega-scale gun that robot is toting!
Available in the US on May 6th 2014 and of course here in the UK now.
Jupiter War is out there!
Well, as is always the case there are those getting their copies of my next book before the release date and enjoying a good gloat about it. Others are crying in the wilderness because it hasn’t turned up yet. One person I know of has already read it, while another in South Africa is waiting for it to turn up on his Kobo.
And just to give this post a little more interest. Here’s an earlier iteration of the cover:
Enjoy!
Penny Royal I: Isobel … reaching boredom threshold.
I’m steadily working through the printed out version of Penny Royal I: Isobel, but it is a bit of a grind. Certainly I’m finding mistakes but after just reading a few pages I start to lose concentration and find myself just reading instead of looking for errors. I can claim that this is due to various distractions in my life just lately, like my mother dying a week or so ago and Caroline having undergone a major operation and now slowly recovering here, but I have reached this stage in every book I’ve written. When does one send a book in to the publisher? It would be nice to say it is when you have ironed out every error, when it is perfect and polished and clear and exact. However, in my case, the reality is that it goes off to the publisher when the thought of further editing makes me feel a little ill, and when, while doing that further editing I find myself making alterations not so much to correct mistakes, but out of boredom.
Why the picture? Nearest to how I visualize one form of Penny Royal.
After I’ve emailed this book to Macmillan I think it will be time for me to take a break. Maybe I should just sit and read books for a week or two (when not spending some time clearing out my mother’s house) maybe just watch some TV … or, more likely, the work-ethic monkey on my back will start pinching my ear and I’ll probably turn to editing the next book.
By Jupiter!
I saw a funny thing on the way to Ipswich hospital the other day – a demonstration that if you look for them coincidences are all around.
Which of course is a way to lead into this: Jupiter War is out on the 26th!
Sorry.
Books and Trips
New arrival from Macmillan yesterday, and very nice they look too. Don’t forget that Jupiter War is available on the 26th. I see that it’s already being well pre-ordered and that the kindle version is at number2 on New & Future Releases (science fiction) on Amazon (that bugger Reynolds having the number one spot).
Since we’re heading away for a few days I was trying to decide whether or not to take a laptop so I can carry on working, but decided just to take my Ipad and the printed version of Penny Royal I: Isobel. This is just blurred enough…
Right, off to Colchester today where Caroline is going to get some Peter Robinson books signed – he’s doing a signing of his new book Children of the Revolution in Waterstones.
After that we head for Ipswich where Caroline is being admitted to the hospital for surgery, but that’s not something I want to go on about here.
Zero Point Review
In Zero Point we follow the story of Serene Galahad who is trying to reform the Committee, albeit in a radicalized manner. On the other hand the Mars Colony is trying to continue it’s steps toward the independence from Earth while the events about Argus Station are continuing to unfold at it’s hurling toward red planet. The character of Serene Galahad is fantastic. At the same time fiercely intelligent and arch-typically evil, Serena is frightening reminder what might happen if someone like that ended up holding the reins of power in real life. By the end of the book, everything is set up for the final showdown. Even though The Departure was quite bleak book for Neal, Zero Point pushes the darkness one notch further through its exploration of the missuses of technology. You’ll literary squirm at the implications but there is simply no light at the end of the tunnel.
Neal Asher has once again struck gold with Zero Point and I can’t wait for Jupiter War to see what he’ll come up with next.
Writing Update
Right, good stuff: I’ve edited my way through the three books while turning chapter notes into synopses along the way. As I have mentioned before I can firmly say that the books are called Penny Royal I: Isobel, Penny Royal II: Room 101 and Penny Royal III: Spear & Spine. Next I’m going to focus on Isobel and do further editing, first working my way backwards through it: I read a paragraph at a time from the end of the book, which keeps me from getting involved in the story and enables me to pick up more errors. I’ll also write a selection of cover blurbs for it. I want to get this book sorted because I promised it to Macmillan in September. After that I’ll do the just same with the other two books, and they’ll probably be ready to send off over the ensuing couple of months. What next?
While writing these books I extracted a whole plot thread concerning a character called Tuppence, his sidekick troodon dinosaur (who used to be an exotic dancer) and a being called ‘the client’. This I then turned into a novella I sold to Asimov’s called The Other Gun and which was published in the April/May issue of that magazine this year.
When I removed the Tuppence thread I also removed a thread about another character called Dr Whip (and no, he’s not into SM). I in fact dumped both threads into one file before later separating them. So next it will be time to get to work on the story of Dr Whip, a man who has been radically altered by Penny Royal. I’m looking forward to letting myself go with that once I’ve finished all the drudge work on the three books above.